Chores

Some may say a kid should be able to run and play and have fun all the time, especially after a long day at school. Now I do agree that children need to run and play and have fun but they also need to learn how to be a part of the family household.
In our family we all work together to run a smooth (or as smooth as a busy family can be) household. This means that the kiddos do in fact help around the house. Depending on their age effects the level or help that is suggested for them.
Our nine year old has things like, cleaning her own room, putting away her own clothes and taking her dirty clothes to laundry and switching the laundry as well. I still fold her clothes, but mostly because I do it while she is at school and leave her a pile to put away. She does help on occasions.  At nine I feel that she is also able to put her dishes from meals in the sink. Taking the compost out is also on he r list. This gets rotated by her and I and even the man of  the house.

Our two year old feeds the dog, helps pick up his room, takes his toys back to his room, carries his clothes to his room to be put away. He also helps when I wash the cabinets and counters. He is also quite capable of taking his dishes to the sink. Unlike his sister who has to scrap any food off at this point getting his plate into the sink is a success. Now being two there will be reminders and understanding if not done all the time. But there is no reason he can't be helpful and learn responsibility for his own things and part of the family as well. We are working on the taking his dirty laundry to the hamper.
I strongly believe that children need to learn by example. This includes chores. Now there are days when everyone gets a pass, because lets face it, they are still kids and sometimes the running and playing are more important. But don't expect my kids to think they can get away with making a huge pile of mess and expecting someone else to clean up after them.
Now most of these activities will need to be followed by an adult to finish or check, but if we don't take the time now, who will when they get older.
Now if that darn dish fairy would do her job and keep all the dishes cleaned and put away. We would be golden.